Sienna froze completely. His voice was calm. Too calm. Like killing people meant nothing to him. "It’ll be a very good way to die, don’t you think?"
Tears instantly burned her eyes. The murderer was still here. And she had just become the unlucky idiot who walked in at the wrong time.
Her breathing turned uneven beneath his hand as her mind raced wildly. This was how people died. Not in dramatic movie scenes. Not with a warning. Just wrong place, wrong time.
She didn’t even need to see his face to know the truth. A man dangerous enough to do this would never leave witnesses alive.
He would kill her. Maybe here. Maybe somewhere else. But she was going to die if she panicked. So Sienna forced herself to think.
Think. Think. Survive first. Break down later.
The hand over her mouth slowly loosened, though the gun stayed firmly against her head. "I promise," she whispered shakily before he could speak again. "I didn’t see anything."
There was silence only the sound of rain hammering against the windows somewhere far away.
"I’m not even here," Sienna rushed out desperately. "Even if I were here, I never saw you. I won’t tell anyone anything, I swear." The man behind her said nothing.
Sienna’s heart slammed painfully against her ribs.
"I’m very good at keeping secrets," she continued quickly, trying not to cry. "I’ll turn a blind eye to this. It never happened."
Still silence. The only sound was her breathing. Then finally. "Turn around slowly."
The deep voice sent chills down her spine. "I want to see your face before I put a hole through it." Sienna’s blood ran cold. Her knees almost gave out beneath her.
"No, no, I didn’t see your face," Sienna said quickly, her voice shaking despite her effort to stay calm. "You can still walk out of here as a free man."
She kept talking because silence felt dangerous. Because if she stopped talking, he might pull the trigger. Her mind raced wildly. Was she seriously about to die tonight?
And for what? She had only come to close the library and meet her boyfriend for their anniversary.
Now there was a butchered corpse five feet away and a killer pointing a gun at her head. And honestly? One question kept screaming in her mind.
Why here? Why kill someone in a school library, of all places? Who was the dead man?
And why did it feel like whoever he was, he had dragged her into something far bigger than she understood? The gun shifted slightly against her forehead.
A warning. The man was losing patience. Sienna swallowed hard and slowly lifted both hands into the air in surrender.
"Okay," she whispered. "Okay... I’m turning around." Very slowly, she turned to face him fully. And the moment she did. Her breath caught.
He was... Dangerously handsome.
Tall. Broad shoulders. Dark hair slightly messy, like he had been running his fingers through it. His sharp jaw was shadowed with stubble, and his cold grey eyes looked like the kind that had seen terrible things and survived them all.
He looked lethal. Like violence wore his face comfortably.
Even holding a gun, there was something controlled about him. It’s the calm and confident. The kind of man who didn’t panic because panic belonged to other people.
Sienna hated that her stupid brain noticed how attractive he was while actively fearing for her life.
Then her eyes dropped lower. Blood. Fresh blood soaked through the left side of his black shirt near his ribs. Her expression changed instantly.
"You’re hurt." The man’s eyes narrowed slightly. Sienna stepped closer before thinking.
The gun immediately lifted higher. But she barely noticed now that her medical instincts had taken over.
"That knife wound," she said quickly. "Your left ribs." Blood was still dripping steadily down his side.
"You’re bleeding badly." The man stared at her strangely. Useful people are kept alive.
That thought crossed Viktor Kessler’s mind instantly as he looked at the blonde woman standing in front of him.
At thirty-five years old, Viktor had met beautiful women before. Models. Actresses. Mafia wives dressed in diamonds and lies.
But this girl. This girl had the kind of beauty that caught a man off guard. Big expressive eyes filled with fear, but still stubbornly alive. Soft blonde hair falling around her shoulders. A figure sinful enough to distract even with a gun pointed at her.
And somehow... Instead of begging for her life, she was worried about him bleeding out.
Viktor almost laughed. Too bad he had to kill her. At least she would be the prettiest woman he had ever buried.
"Hey," Sienna said softly, her brows pulling together as she studied the wound. "Are you okay? Do you need help?" She took another careful step toward him.
Viktor immediately stepped back.
"What is your name?" he asked suddenly. Not scared enough. Most people cried by now. Most people collapsed. This woman was analyzing his injuries.
"I’m the person trying to save your life," Sienna shot back before she could stop herself. "You’re bleeding out."
Her eyes stayed fixed on the wound.
"You’ve got a deep gash around the rib area. The knife missed anything vital by inches. It barely missed your lung." She looked back up at him seriously.
"You’re lucky." Viktor’s gaze darkened with interest. "You don’t scare easily, do you?"
Oh, she was terrified. Sienna could barely feel her legs. But fear had always made her strangely calm. Her brain focused when danger came too close. Unfortunately, that same brain now realized something horrifying.
This man wasn’t some random killer. The way he carried himself. The expensive watch on his wrist. The controlled violence in his eyes. This man had power. Real power.
"Too bad," Viktor said quietly, lifting the gun slightly again, "I still have to kill you."
Sienna’s stomach dropped. Then... all of a sudden, footsteps echoed through the library. Several pairs. Fast. Heavy.
Coming closer. Both of them turned instantly toward the sound. Sienna’s pulse spiked violently.